like 75% of American government it is so indescribably insane that no person who ever lived would design it that way on purpose

I feel like I'm going insane every time I see a media story about DOGE that doesn't also mention the fact that the Government Accountability Office exists and performs the exact function that DOGE pretends to, only in a credibly constitutional, non-partisan, and conflict-of-interest-free manner

At long last, a dramatic, committed whole-of-government response to climate change.

fitting that the first big air disaster after years of loud, insistent warnings that understaffing would cause exactly this outcome, happens at the airport named after the guy who crushed the ATC union

as ever the people of DC deserve better than our federal government

I’m really not gonna get heavy into talking politics here, but in my opinion they should turn the government back on.

Beginning to doubt that wokeness is the biggest threat to higher education

"The Chiefs dynasty is more annoying than the Patriots ever were" is crazy talk for several reasons, one of them being that the Patriots dynasty forced regular people to think about Boston

The only forum that has ever benefited from robust debate is the BodyBuilding Forum thread where they got in a fight over how many days there are in a week

Adair, Iowa, had a population of 794. So, it seemed suspicious when its three-person police department asked regulators to buy 90 machine guns, including an M134 Gatling-style minigun capable of shooting up to 6,000 rounds of ammunition every minute. Federal agents later discovered Adair's police chief, Bradley Wendt, was using his position to acquire weapons and sell them for personal profit. A jury convicted Wendt earlier this year of conspiracy to defraud the United States, lying to federal law enforcement and illegal possession of a machine gun. Wendt is unapologetic and has appealed his conviction. "If I'm guilty of this, every cop in the nation's going to jail," Wendt told CBS News just days before a federal judge sentenced him to a 5-year prison term. Wendt's crimes appear to be part of a nationwide pattern.

This story is uh, insane www.cbsnews.com/news/police-...

theonion.com/hawaiian-fam...

I found this whole study to be excellent. Some much needed clear-eyed analysis of the limits of influence from security assistance

Biden approves antipersonnel mines for Ukraine, undoing his own policy The controversial White House move to send Kyiv land mines comes as Russia’s advances in eastern Ukraine threaten to overwhelm front-line defenses.

www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...

Lots of people on here now... should probably start having some good takes.

3) Congress needs to step up if the United States is going to expand its diplomatic footprint in the Indo-Pacific. This isn't just about funding (although that's important), but pushing State to be efficient and focus its strategy. If left to itself, everything/nothing will be a priority for State

2) Having a significant diplomatic footprint matters for being able to take advantage of opportunities for security agreements, trade, cultural exchange. Technology can't replace diplomats, but can increase their reach if carefully deployed

Some takeaways:
1) The Biden administration made some progress in expanding the US diplomatic footprint in the Indo-Pacific but it was meager and could be wiped out pretty quickly

Broken Pivot: Examining Changes to the U.S. Diplomatic Footprint in the Indo-Pacific • Stimson Center The United States has not invested in nor deployed the diplomatic resources necessary to advance its interests in the Indo-Pacific region.

I had sworn off posting but I spent a lot of time on this @stimsoncenter.bsky.social report and hope people read it so here you go! www.stimson.org/2024/broken-...

I’m sure others have already observed this but it’s hilarious that an efficiency commission requires two co-chairs

The Threat from Within: An Overview of the Domestic Violent Extremist Threat Facing US Nuclear Secur... Domestic violent extremist threats to U.S. nuclear facilities prove that the nuclear security status quo is at risk.

Thrilled to have published a report with my Stimson Center colleagues on the urgent need to secure U.S. nuclear facilities against domestic violent extremist threats

We outline the need for flexibility in the construct of #nuclearsecurity threats to reflect national security priorities #nukesky

The Lessons for Israel of America’s War in Afghanistan How to Avoid a Quagmire in Gaza

Great new piece from Chris Preble Michale Cohen and Monica Toft, based on their Afghanistan project: what lessons can Israel take from the US experience in Afghanistan?

"Pivot to Asia" is the new "turning the corner in Afghanistan"

This is excellent.

Yes, the World Is Multipolar And that isn’t bad news for the United States.

Yes, multipolarity is emerging. @evancooper.bsky.social
and I wrote for Foreign Policy, drawing on our recent paper to argue that multipolarity is here, and that it isn't necessarily bad for the US.

Assumption Testing: Multipolarity is more dangerous than bipolarity for the United States • Stimso... Common views about multipolarity and its risks for the United States are misleading

A new paper from @evancooper.bsky.social and I at Stimson, looking at the data surrounding the "multipolarity" debate. We argue that the world is getting more multipolar, but that US strategy is still stuck in a bipolar world.

CIA Story Time: From Patrice Lumumba's Assassination To Post-9/11 Torture Before his death in 2008, CIA operator Larry Devlin lamented the persecution of agency interrogators. A forthcoming book sheds light on his role overthrowing Congo's first post-colonial government.

Ok, it’s CIA story time, because a great forthcoming book revisits the agency’s role in the assassination of Patrice Lumumba and its extensive deception around that — largely the work of its man in Congo, Larry Devlin, whom the CIA honored during its Torture Era.